


Midnight in Marseilles

by Rosetta



Series: a posteriori [1]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: I Tried, Kawaii date night time, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-11
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2018-09-16 01:10:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9267083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosetta/pseuds/Rosetta
Summary: Getting lost in a foreign city isn't normally a very pleasant experience. But as their hands wrapped around each others', they both found that they don't really mind not knowing which part of the city they're in.





	

**Author's Note:**

> _*HAUNTINGLY CHANTS DATE NIGHT DATE NIGHT DATE NIGHT*_  
>   
> 
> If I ever get to visit Marseilles I'm going to try getting lost in the city just to be able to fix the settings for this story. Also does ponds in France freeze during winter? I actually don't know, but ponds freeze in the movies so let's stick with that.

Yuuri slowly bit into the bread, savouring the sweet warmth that soothed his entire body from the inside. The fresh  _fougasse_ wrapped in thin paper squeaked in protest, as the generous cheesy filling slightly leaked from where Yuuri's mouth missed a gap. A blot of the unholy triple parmesan-mozarella-goat's cheese mixture unceremoniously decided to cling onto Yuuri's cheek, and naturally, the young man didn't notice.

Victor laughed.

"You have cheese on your face, Yuuri." 

"I do?"

Yuuri consciously wiped his right cheek. He frowned when Victor's laugh became louder, but otherwise presented no resistance when the older man's fingers found their way to his other cheek, gently wiping the disgraceful piece of cheese off his cheek with utmost care.

"There we go," Victor fondly smiled as he patted Yuuri's now clean cheek. "No more cheesy Yuuri. Although you were quite cute with the cheese stuck there."

"I bet you'd look fantastic with a dollop of cheese on  _your_ face."

"And that's where you're wrong, sweetheart," Victor tutted, as he wrapped one arm around Yuuri's waist, leading the other man to start walking. "I always look dashing, with or without cheese!"

"Of course, Victor." Yuuri, sighing with fond exasperation, held up the half-eaten _f_ _ougasse_ to Victor, who happily took a bite of the bread straight off Yuuri's hand. A second, less fond sigh escaped Yuuri. "I want pirozhki now." he mused.

A deeper sigh followed.

"Same."

Neither of them said anything afterwards, as they walked along the alley in a comfortable silence between them, safe the constant taps of footsteps on cobbled pavement and the occasional sound of cheese bread being ripped and munched.

 _Palais Omnisports Marseille Grand-Est_ was glowing at the distance, blades of light sweeping across the sky in a fixed rotation. Purple and white flags were lined up along the roads surrounding the ice rink, the silvery words  _Grand Prix Final_ and  _Finale du Grand Prix_ written in every single one.  Neither Victor nor Yuuri knew how or when, or how far they strayed from _avenue de la capelette_ , but when they found a delightful 24-hours cafe selling some very delicious pastries, any notion of worry was quickly expelled by Yuuri's groaning stomach.

They only got more lost shortly afterwards.

This part of Marseille in particular remained quite lively even well past midnight, with people walking in and out of the bustling bars lining up both sides of the alley. Yuuri could feel his face warming up against the gentle winter breeze when a group of women - all four seemingly not entirely sober - cooed and awwed at him and Victor, calling them " _cute_ " and " _such young love_ ".

He softly elbowed Victor when the man winked at them (one of them looked like she'd pass out on the spot). He didn't, however, offer any resistance when Victor's arm pulled their bodies closer together.

"Cold night," Victor muttered.

It wasn't too cold. In fact, it wasn't cold at all, with so many outdoor heaters burning along the path.

"It is," Yuuri replied anyway, smiling as he snuggled onto Victor's cashmere coat. "I wonder which part of Marseilles are we at right now."

"I wonder if that bridge with the locks is still around."

Yuuri chuckled.

"That's in Paris, Victor."

"Isn't Marseilles in Paris?"

Yuuri opened his mouth, but he quickly closed it when he noticed the subtle mischief behind Victor's grin. "You're messing with me, aren't you." even he could feel that his frown wasn't reaching down as far as he thought it would. "Besides, they took down all the locks last year."

"Yeah. It's too bad. I would really love putting one on with you."

"Same."

* * *

 

The late night bars and cafes have dwindled, and Victor and Yuuri found themselves walking past closed windows and doors, with occasional picturesque little gardens in between. The residential alley had half as many streetlamps as the previous alley, and with no more heaters to warm the air around them, Yuuri finally found the actual need to stick very closely to Victor. From the way Victor's arm had further circled around Yuuri's waist, he figured his fiancé must've felt the cold too. He pulled out his phone, hoping that the Maps application would at least tell them where they are, but the lone vertical bar on the top-left of his screen and the lack of the friendly 4G icon made him curse quietly instead. "Victor, there's no signal here. Let's step back a bit?"

Victor stopped walking.

"Yuuri."

Yuuri raised an eyebrow. Victor's voice sounded different, but not the kind of different he expected. Before he realized it, however, Victor was already pulling him ahead, half running with a strangely excited look. If it wasn't for Victor's hands Yuuri would have likely fallen face first on the pavement at some point, but he thankfully didn't.

"Victor...?"

Yuuri's glasses had gone askew when they ran, so he took a moment to straighten it once they stopped running. He didn't know if it was Victor's age or his surplus energy, but by the time they did, Victor was panting for breath, and while Yuuri did stumble a few times, he almost seemed like he hadn't been running at all. They were in a garden, Yuuri realized. Park lights were dimly illuminating the place where some modest christmas decorations weren't. It didn't take Yuuri too long to realize what had attracted Victor, then, as his eyes stopped at what seemed to be a frozen pond at the end of the path.

He raised an eyebrow.

"Victor, really?"

The nod was gratuitously overexcited, but Victor's infective smile helped Yuuri forgive his outrageous action. "Let's skate!" he said, grabbing both of Yuuri's hands and cheerfully pulled him to the ice, eyes glinting like a child on christmas morning.

"Victor, what if something happens? Short programs is in three days!"

"It'll be fine, it's just ice!"

 _That's exactly why I'm worried!_ Yuuri wanted to say, but Victor was already jumping onto the frozen surface, his face bright with excitement as his arms flailing on his sides. Yuuri almost wanted to pull Victor back, but something -  _something inside_ \- just stopped him on the edge of the pond. Under the scarce illumination from not enough streetlights and subtle moonlight, Victor was far from the dazzling man most of the world knew him to be. This was not  _The_ Victor Nikiforov, the graceful prince of ice, five-times gold medalist of the figure skating championship,  _the_ dream idol of Katsuki Yuuri. Here, wobbling on the ice like a kid on his first day skating, is Victor Nikiforov, man-baby extraordinaire who does things on impulse and acts on his heart then his head. A graceful imperfection who hides an entire iceberg under the surface of the water, but Yuuri knows - hopes - _knows_ - he can trust this... _this_....

This _adorkable_ man-baby.

"Yuuri, Yuuri, look!" Yuuri could only sigh in amusement at the very subject of his gaze, who was waving his hands excitedly to his sole audience. "It's apparently easier than I thought it would be!" Yuuri held his breath for a moment, but as he watched Victor gaining stability on the ice despite only wearing a pair of burgundy oxfords, his worry slowly turned into anticipation.  _Of course_ , he mused,  _of course he would just skate like it's nothing even without the proper shoes_. Victor was, above all else, a more-than-proficient skater after all.

Or maybe not.

Yuuri didn't even realize that he loudly _shrieked_ when his fiancé suddenly slipped and spectacularly fell on his rear, and without a second thought he worriedly dashed in to help Victor stand - only to fall face first onto the ice with all the grace that a professional figure skater could have. There was a brief silence between them, but Victor snorted when Yuuri looked up. The hysterical laugh that echoed through the empty park soon after only served to make Yuuri's face redder, his embarrassment soaring through his comfort range. With effort, Yuuri somehow managed to get up straight on his feet to waddle towards Victor, with a not-too-happy frown decorating his red face. His hair was sticking out in all the wrong places, his chin felt hot and cold from the impact with the ice - thankfully, his glasses was still intact, albeit dotted with ice flakes. "Here," he offered his hand to Victor. "A-are you okay?"

Victor pensively stared at the gloved hand, before looking straight into Yuuri's hazel eyes, smiling brightly. He took Yuuri's hand with his own. "Thank you!"

"You're very wee _ELCOME-!?"_

Rather than allowing Yuuri to pull him up, Victor had dropped his entire weight backwards, his grip strengthening as he pulled  _Yuuri_ down with him onto the ice. A string of Japanese curses involuntarily came out from Yuuri's mouth as they skidded slightly over the ice, and it only made Victor's smile wider.

"Victor _what the hell!?_ "

Between Victor's heartful laugh and their position - Yuuri effectively pinning Victor under him as they were both sprawled on the ice on top of each other - his head just couldn't process where to focus, and it simply short-circuited and turned him into a stuttering mess. His hair was a mess, his face was cold all over, he swore his glasses were bent at least three ways, and from the looks of it he'll probably suffer a minor cold in the next few days, which would be bad if it doesn't clear by the time he takes over the ice for the SP. He didn't understand how Victor still managed to look so bloody  _perfect_ even after skidding across the ice - granted, he didn't fall on his  _face_. Yuuri would have called 119 (Or 911? Or was it 000 in France?) if Victor had smashed his face on the ice for real - but underneath him, even with ice flakes barely visible on his cheeks and his bangs sticking out messily, nose and ears a not-so-charmingly red from the cold, he could still look so...

"So beautiful."

Yuuri blinked. Victor's laughter had died down, and on his face was a gentle smile, eyes so in love it seemingly glowed under the moonlight, pupils dilated so large Yuuri could almost see himself in Victor's eyes. He could only stupidly stare at his fiancé as he felt a gloved hand softly touching his face as if it was a precious crystal statuette. "You're beautiful." Victor repeated, softly, cerulean eyes fixated at confused hazel ones.

"I'm a mess."

"A _beautiful_ mess."

"Why did you even jump into the ice!?"

"That's just what I do, _lyubov moya_. I see ice, I jump."

"Who are you, _Nanase Haruka_ on ice?"

"Just the one and only luckiest man in the world, fiancé of the world's most beautiful boy."

Yuuri actually forgot about  _breathing_ for a moment.

"...you awful, cheesy man."

"Not as cheesy as you were, _beautiful_."

"..."

"..."

They stared at each other with eyes wide open, forgetting about the cold of the ice piercing through their fabrics. Victor's brown cashmere coat was likely starting to get wet patches, and Yuuri could feel his gloves, not nearly thick enough, freezing upon contact with the pond surface. They could hear the wind breezing through the trees, the rustling of leaves in the dark, the muted echoes of the cityscape in the distance. The sound of still water underneath the ice. The faint sound of singing, so faint it was almost like it was just their imagination.

 

 _Sento una voce che piange lontano_  
_Anche tu, sei stato forse abbandonato?_

 

Yuuri was the first to break.

"...ha."

"Ha...haha..."

"Ah-aha _hah-_ "

 It didn't take long until they were both laughing uncontrollably, Victor more so than Yuuri, to their surprise. They laughed so hard, Yuuri was actually close to crying by the time they managed to contain themselves. " _Nante kotta..._ " he mumbled. There was a tired, resigned smile on his face, as he let himself just fall onto Victor. "I give up. This is too much. Can't take this all. How did I even get engaged to you, you crazy old man?"

"Well, a drunkard walked into a banquet-"

"Actually, Victor? _Please shut up_."

* * *

  

 _Stammi vicino, non te ne andare_  
_Ho paura di perderti_

 

Getting into the empty park had apparently done wonders to Yuuri's phone network, as they finally found themselves standing next to the main street. Yuuri fiddled with his phone and Victor was busy trying his best to ignore the wet patches on his coat as they waited for their pickup. Despite what Yuuri almost believed, they actually didn't stray too far from the Capelette main avenue, having ended up in the Guy Azais garden after a long roundabout walk. _Palais Omnisports Marseille Grand-Est_  was glowing as bright as it was a few hours earlier, but the streets were much quieter, and if it wasn't for the fact that apparently  _yes_ , Uber exists in Marseille and  _yes_ , there _are_ after-midnight drivers, they would've had to survive a long trek back to their hotel.

"You know," Victor spoke up, as they saw their car approaching. Yuuri turned his eyes off the screen and looked at Victor. "I wouldn't have minded having to walk back to the hotel."

"It's a cold night, Victor."

It is. Combined with the aftermath of their skating-on-the-pond stunt, it had became twice as cold as it was supposed to be, and Yuuri would be impressed if neither of them goes down with a cold within a few hours. Victor turned to Yuuri, smiling through the cold that tinged his ears and nose red. Sincere cerulean eyes met serene hazel ones. His arms slipped under Yuuri's arms, around his waist, and Yuuri found himself returning the pull as he pressed onto Victor's damp coat. A strange warmth permeated into his skin, and made him feel like the warmest hot cocoa in the middle of a rain. It almost felt imaginary, but it did make him snuggle closer into Victor.

Cold night.

"Not really."

Victor replied anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> Please don't skate on frozen ponds without checking if the ice is thick enough first.
> 
>  
> 
> ....also i re-read this after publishing and i realized "did I use this in Classic oh shit I did". I have no regrets because episode 12 happened, but _damnn_ i can get uncreative i'm sorry (。 >д


End file.
